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Industrial Law Journal 2003 32(4):223-252; doi:10.1093/ilj/32.4.223
© 2003 by Industrial Law Society
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Opting Out of the 48-Hour Week: Employer Necessity or Individual Choice? An Empirical Study of the Operation of Article 18(1)(b) of the Working Time Directive in the UK

Catherine Barnard1, Simon Deakin2 and Richard Hobbs3

1 Law and Fellow of Trinity College, University of Cambridge. 2 Corporate Governance and Fellow of Peterhouse, University of Cambridge. 3 Faculty of Law and Millennium Scholar, University of Cambridge.

The EU Working Time Directive has so far had little impact on an ingrained culture of long-hours working in the UK. Case studies suggest that the use of individual opt-outs from the 48-hour limit on weekly working time is a principal reason for this. However, removal of the individual opt-out (currently under consideration at EU level) is unlikely to make much difference to UK practice in the absence of a wider review of working time policy. In particular, the UK's individualised system of workplace bargaining is currently ill-placed to adapt to a continental European model of working time regulation.


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